French lessons
France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in jail, with two of them suspended, for corruption and ‘influence peddling’ after seeking to bribe a judge. Some other French leaders who have been convicted in criminal courts:
— Jacques Chirac got a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for setting up fake jobs to claim public funds for political purposes.
— Christine Lagarde was convicted in 2016 of making payouts to a businessman while she was finance minister in 2008. She was not punished and went on to be appointed head of the European Central Bank.
— In 2020 former PM François Fillon was given a five-year sentence, three suspended, for paying his wife for a job she never did.
Taxing times
In 2020/21, public sector current receipts will be equivalent to 37 per cent of GDP. When since 1948 did we have the highest and lowest tax burden? Percentage of GDP:
HIGHEST
1949, 1948 44%
1951, 1969/70 42%
1968/69, 1981/82, 1982/83 41%
LOWEST
1993/94 31%
1992/93 32%
1996/97, 1995/96 33%
1991/92, 1960/61 34%
Source: OBR
Off the rails
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